


Seoul Evacuation

by stoneage



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Hyungwon likes nature, I.M. the science guy, Jooheon is scared of everything, Kihyun likes nature, Minhyuk the peacemaker, Shownu the navigator, Wonho is scared of heights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 07:28:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15967583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stoneage/pseuds/stoneage
Summary: In the aftermath of nuclear meltdown, Monsta X is stranded in Seoul. Do they have the skills to make it out alive?





	Seoul Evacuation

“I can’t do this anymore,” Jooheon groaned as he slumped onto a seat of stacked tires. The group had stopped for a rest after waking up with the sun and continuing their quest to get out of Seoul. They had left their dorm after it had been announced that the military would not be doing evacuations within the city. It was now one o’clock in the afternoon on their second day. Wonho sat near Jooheon on an upturned trashcan, I.M. perched on the hood of a burned-out car, and Hyungwon, Minhyuk, and Kihyun sat on a bench that had been pulled from a nearby park to the middle of the road that was now abandoned. Shownu stood behind Jooheon and put a hand on his shoulder.  


“We have to keep going. The city isn’t safe,” he said and lightly pushed Jooheon to his feet. Tensions had been running high ever since the meltdown and explosion of the Hanbit nuclear power plant caused radioactive material to rain down across South Korea. Riots were rampant throughout Seoul with people trying to find their loved ones and flee, and those that were looking to make a profit any way possible. They were racing against time to get out, and with Shownu’s pressure for them to keep continuing on, Hyungwon exploded.  


“What is the point? Do you know what we’ve lost? We had everything, but now look at us!” he shouted as he ripped off the mask he was wearing and gestured to Jooheon and Wonho sitting across from him. Jooheon had a deep gash that started in the middle of his left thigh and ran down his shin that he got from escaping looters through a broken glass window. Wonho had his right arm in a sling from dislocating his shoulder by pulling himself and Minhyuk up when they had fallen over the railing of a fire escape trying to get the attention of a low-flying military helicopter. The rest of the group had minor cuts and scrapes, and all were beginning to look bedraggled with ripped pants, torn t-shirts, and face masks to prevent them breathing in radioactive ash.  


Kihyun stood from his place beside Hyungwon and moved toward Shownu, crumpling his mask in his fist and throwing it in his face as he shouted, “You still want to be our leader? Then lead us. Do you have a plan once we get out of Seoul? Where are we going to go? Where is safe?”  


Wonho jumped up and moved between the two, pushing Kihyun roughly away as he retorted, “Shownu has worked hard to get us this far. Are you saying that he isn’t a good leader?”  


Minhyuk stood at the same time and yelled, “Don’t fight!”  


I.M. went and stood next to Jooheon, who was leaning heavily on the trashcan Wonho had vacated for support. He inspected the bandages that had been hurriedly applied to Jooheon’s wound as he spoke.  


“We have enough supplies to make it out of the city. We have each other. Isn’t that enough?”  


Kihyun was quick to reply, “We had homes, families, and dreams. That’s more than we have now.”  


This was the true source of the tension between the members. None of them knew what had happened to their families, and their families didn’t know what had happened to them. All they could hope for was that everyone was safe and well, and that they would be together soon.  


“That’s not Shownu’s fault. It’s not any of our’s. We’re all doing our best, and he’s just trying to keep us safe by keeping us moving,” Jooheon consoled and put a hand on Kihyun’s shoulder.  


Wonho looked between Hyungwon and Kihyun as he said, “Like a leader should.”  


I.M. changed the topic before another fight could start. “Jooheon’s leg isn’t looking good and he needs more time before we can continue. While we rest we can decide where we’re going from here.”  


Shownu showed his agreement by allowing the pack that he was carrying to slide from his shoulders. When Wonho got hurt, Shownu began carrying his supplies as well as his own. Wonho still carried a small pack at both his own insistence and Shownu’s; Wonho’s reasoning being he still had one good shoulder, Shownu’s being that he would have supplies if they got separated. When Jooheon got hurt, Shownu was prepared to take on his belongings as well, and Kihyun and Minhyuk had to convince him to split it between them.  


“I think an island would be safer than staying on the mainland. I was going to tell you once we got out of the city and we would vote on where to go,” Shownu said wearily as he pulled his mask down and sat on one side of the stack of tires, urging Jooheon to join him.  


“We should go to Incheon Airport. From there we could fly anywhere in the world,” Jooheon suggested.  


“That’s probably where everyone is going, and we’ll just run into more trouble,” Minhyuk reasoned. The group gathered around Shownu as he unzipped his pack and pulled out a map that showed the mainland and surrounding islands.  


“We could go somewhere with a lot of forest cover. Plants are able to absorb radiation from the atmosphere to clean the air,” I.M. suggested.  


“Then we should go to Oedo. The entire island is a botanical garden and national park,” Kihyun said.  


“Or we should go underground. Radioactive waste is stored in abandoned mines, so if the radiation is above ground, going underground should protect us,” I.M. added.  


The members continued to look at the map until Hyungwon pointed at an area of islands in the south and said, “Jeju Island has lava caves.”  


“We still have a problem: how are we going to get anywhere? Most of the roads are blocked because people abandoned their cars,” Minhyuk pointed out,” and I am not walking all the way to the southern coast.”  


“And according to this map, the fastest way to get to the southern coast over land would take us right past the nuclear plant,” Shownu informed them as he traced the route with his finger.  


“We have to go somewhere that we can be evacuated from, and both of those places sound like there would be too few people there for the military to bother going to,” Wonho said, then shared his newly-thought-of plan. “We should go somewhere prominent, somewhere that is close to the edge of the city so it is away from the riots and the military will come for us. And if they don’t come for us, we can contact them.”  


After Wonho described the place, all of the members knew exactly where they were headed. They said it together as Shownu pointed to it on the map.  


“Namsan Park!”

 

Namsan Park is home to Namsan Tower, which is the second highest spot in Seoul, and a defunct smoke signal station, both of which were important for the members’ plan to work. If any planes or helicopters passing by didn’t see them from the tower, they needed the signal station to get in contact with them.  


“Do you know anything about sending smoke signals?” Jooheon asked Wonho as the group prepared to move on.  


“I know the basic idea of it, but that’s it. You start a fire with wood that will give off a lot of smoke. But because the rioters started a lot of fires around the city we have to make sure they know that we are signaling them by trapping the smoke inside of the chimney and letting it out in short puffs,” Wonho replied.  


“Why do all of the members know all of this information that has turned out to be useful?” Minhyuk asked as they started walking, and when no one replied he elaborated, “Shownu is the navigator, I.M. knows all about radiation, Hyungwon and Kihyun are nature experts, and Wonho knows about smoke signaling.”  


I.M. was the first to explain. “My dad was a scientist and I wanted to be a scientist before I got into music, which you know, so I know a little about physics and chemistry and stuff.”  


“Reading a map really isn’t that hard,” Shownu said with a shrug.  


“I know about nature because it is interesting to me. I like animals and plants and how they all work together, so I learn about as many different environments as I can,” Kihyun said, and Hyungwon simply added, “Me, too.”  


The members then turned to Wonho, whose ears were turning red and eyes were darting from each member to the ground in turn.  


“I know about smoke signals because I learned about them at Namsan Park when I went there recently,” he said, which made all of the members give him confused and quizzical looks. Wonho looked down at his feet as he walked and mumbled something that no one understood.  


“What did you say?” Shownu asked.  


Wonho looked up through his bangs and said quietly, but so everyone could hear, “I went there to try and go up in the tower.”  


Minhyuk burst out laughing at that, while Kihyun, Hyungwon, and Jooheon chuckled for a moment and Shownu and I.M. smiled and looked at the ground.  


“You’re afraid of heights, Wonho. Why did you want to go up in the tower?” Kihyun asked him as he angrily kicked at pieces of gravel in the road.  


“To prove to myself that I could. But you can all go ahead and laugh, because I couldn’t do it. So I went over to the signal station, and there was a guide talking about how they used to send the signals. I stayed and listened until I calmed down enough that I could come home,” Wonho replied. After that everyone was silent, and Wonho slowed down so that he kept pace with Jooheon in the back of the group.  


“It’s okay to be afraid of heights, you know. Everyone has to be scared of something,” Jooheon said after a moment had passed.  


Wonho blew out a breath, slung his good arm around Jooheon’s shoulders, and said, “Yes, I know, but I wish it wasn’t true, and I wish I could have a fear of something else, like spiders. Everyone is afraid of spiders; fewer people are afraid of heights.”  


“And you know that the members weren’t really making fun of you?” Jooheon asked.  


“Of course. I only have one fear; if they were going to make fun of somebody it would be you,” Wonho replied, and they both laughed.

 

The members’ excitement became more palpable the closer they came to Namsan Park. It was as if they were leaving the city behind; tall skyscrapers thinned out as large evergreens took their place, and if the members didn’t know any better they would think that it was just another day in Seoul. It looked as if no riots had taken place near this part of the city, which gave them a glimmer of hope that their evacuation plan would work.  


They had been close when they stopped for rest earlier that day, and it only took them a little over two hours to reach the entrance to the park, from which the Namsan Tower could easily be seen. And it was easy to see that it had been on fire. The observation deck was now a gaping, charred hole. As the members got closer they could see melted pieces of metal that had once been part of the floor of the deck littering the ground, and the glass from the windows covering the grass in a glittering carpet.  
The members stood side-by-side at the foot of the tower. Hyungwon looked up at the mangled mass as he said to Wonho, “It’s a good thing you couldn’t go up there before.”  


They left the tower and walked over to the signal station, which was nearby and connected to the tower by a large platform that covered the area. The station hadn’t been damaged by the fire and looked as it had the first time Wonho had visited; conical chimneys made from brown bricks with an opening on the side and on top.  


Wonho chose the chimney at the end of the platform and started giving orders. “Shownu and Minhyuk: you go and find the firewood. -”  


“I’ll go with them. I know what woods make a lot of smoke when you burn them,” Hyungwon interjected.  


Wonho nodded in agreement, and the group went into the trees heading north. “Okay. I.M., Jooheon; look around for something to use as a cover for the top of the chimney. Kihyun, you and I will go in the opposite direction of the other group and gather more firewood.”  


The rest of the members split up and went to complete their tasks. Kihyun and Wonho went south, but there were fewer trees in this direction.  


“Pine gives off a lot of smoke when it burns, but any type of wood that is still green will smoke well,” Kihyun said, then added, “We also need dry wood to keep the fire going. Anything that we find over here we should take, because there won’t be much.”  


Wonho had saved Kihyun for his group because he wanted to apologize for how he had treated him when they were arguing. As he bent down to pick up a branch he said, “Kihyun, I’m sorry that I shoved you earlier. That’s not how members should treat each other when they have a disagreement.”  


Kihyun came over and added some twigs to the pile and replied, “We haven’t been ourselves these last few days. I’m actually glad that you pushed me away; I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t.”  


They continued to gather firewood and kindling, and when Wonho decided they had enough they returned to the station. Shownu, Hyungwon, and Minhyuk had already arrived, each carrying back an armful of wood. None of them had seen I.M. and Jooheon since they split up, but suddenly there was a loud crash at the other end of the platform that caught their attention. Jooheon and I.M. were carrying a large piece of sheet metal between them that Jooheon had dropped.  


“This was all we could find that was big enough,” I.M. said as they reached the chimney and struggled to lift the metal onto the platform. Shownu gripped the top and pulled it up, and with Minhyuk’s help positioned the sheet on top of the chimney.  


Hyungwon had gone through his pack and found matches to light the fire while Kihyun arranged the wood in the fireplace. Wonho struck a match and set the kindling ablaze.  


“Now all we have to do is wait,” he said. They didn’t have to wait long. The pine and greenwood smoked quickly, and within five minutes Wonho sent up the first signal.  


“Three minute intervals should be enough to catch the attention of anyone flying overhead,” he said, and every three minutes a puff of smoke could be seen over the skies of Seoul. Occasionally Shownu would take over removing the cover so Wonho’s arm could rest.  


After a few signals were sent, I.M. noticed a problem. “The smoke is choking the fire. It isn’t getting enough oxygen to keep burning, and it will be too dark to see the smoke soon,” he pointed out as another signal was sent up.  


Wonho fought back his panic as he said, “Then let’s hope that they find us soon.” 

 

It took another hour and a half for a helicopter to fly over the park.  


“They have to have seen us, right?” Minhyuk asked as the helicopter continued heading south.  


“They’ll probably radio back to their base for backup. We wouldn’t have all fit on that one, anyway,” Shownu said nonchalantly, but everyone knew he was just as worried.  


Another half an hour passed without another sighting. The sun was going down, and the fire was nothing but a pile of embers.  


“Will we try again tomorrow?” Jooheon asked as the members stared into the hot coals in defeat.  


“We have to,” Wonho replied resolutely as he removed the cover to send up one last signal.  


Suddenly Hyungwon turned to the north and asked, “Do you hear that?”  


Everyone stopped moving and just listened.  


“It’s just the wind blowing through the trees,” Kihyun said as he returned to rummaging in his pack.  


“No, wait, listen. It’s… ,” I.M. trailed off as the helicopter came into view.  


The members shouted and jumped to get the pilot’s attention. Shownu grabbed the piece of sheet metal and was waving it in the air. The helicopter landed in the middle of the platform, and a soldier jumped out to usher them onboard.  


“You boys wouldn’t happen to be members of the group Monsta X, would you?” the pilot asked them as they buckled their safety belts.  


“Yes sir, that’s us,” Shownu replied.  


The pilot spoke into the microphone on his helmet for a moment, then said, “There’s some people at Incheon Airport that can’t wait to see you.”  


“Our families?” Jooheon asked, and the pilot smiled and nodded.  


All of the members felt a crushing weight lifted off of their shoulders. Their families were safe. They were safe. And they would be together again soon.


End file.
